Cash transfer programs (CTP), implemented throughout the world, have become a privileged formula for supporting vulnerable households in LMIC, either in emergency situations (food crisis, natural disasters), or, alternatively, as part of long-term social and economic programs (promoting resilience, fighting against poverty), sometimes in a conditional manner (procurement of identity papers, school enrolment or health center visits) and sometimes unconditionally. They are considered as a “development revolution as well as a success story. Notwithstanding such positive aspects, CTP are also in many ways typical of top-down development and standardized interventions. More often than not, the imported norms embedded in cash transfers, and designed by international experts, are reinterpreted and circumvented by the local populations according to specific contexts and local norms. Sometimes they are perceived as a ‘manna’ emanating from the development world, which engender multiple tactics in order to capture part of this “rent”. Sometimes cash transfers are perceived as a tool wielded by the State to integrate and discipline indigenous communities, thus prompting distrust and suspicion. This book presents research based on qualitative methods that bring to light predicted and unpredicted results of these programs on target populations and local communities. The data and analysis provided concern mainly Latin America (where cash transfer programs originated) and Africa (where they have been massively implemented later). This diversity allows a comparative perspective on CTP. It opens the door for grounded theories and empirically-based interpretations on CTP and more generally standardized development policies in the social domain Indeed, cash transfers represent particularly fascinating cases in point for theorizing on development and social policies, because, despite the undeniable benefits they offer to poor families, they concentrate or exacerbate major ambiguities, contradictions, difficulties and inappropriateness of current interventions by the State or international agencies when they interact with local rationales.